(Ben Rothwell: One of the few men on Earth who can mess with the Zohan.)
Aw hell, this never gets easier. We regret to inform you that Ben Rothwell — who most recently made Brendan Schaub see God at UFC 145 — has been forced to withdraw from his main card fight against undefeated heavyweight rising star Travis Browne at UFC on FOX 4: Shogun vs. Vera; an ankle injury was the culprit. Though there were early reports that Strikeforce veteran Devin Cole would come in on short notice to get demolished by Browne, it now appears that Browne is being moved off the August 4th event altogether, and the prelim match between Mike Swick and DaMarques Johnson will be promoted to the main card.
(Ben Rothwell: One of the few men on Earth who can mess with the Zohan.)
Aw hell, this never gets easier. We regret to inform you that Ben Rothwell — who most recently made Brendan Schaub see God at UFC 145 — has been forced to withdraw from his main card fight against undefeated heavyweight rising star Travis Browne at UFC on FOX 4: Shogun vs. Vera; an ankle injury was the culprit. Though there were early reports that Strikeforce veteran Devin Cole would come in on short notice to get demolished by Browne, it now appears that Browne is being moved off the August 4th event altogether, and the prelim match between Mike Swick and DaMarques Johnson will be promoted to the main card.
Mitrione was once scheduled to fight Rob Broughton at UFC on FOX 4 before visa issues forced Broughton off the card…According to Mitrione, he was informed that his fight against Broughton was going to be scrapped from the card five weeks ago…Since then, he has yet to be booked on another UFC card. He was hoping to fight on Sept. 7 in his hometown of Indianapolis, but that card was recently canceled.
“Since I haven’t been booked,” Mitrione said, “I have been home visiting my children and not training in a way that would allow me to do two things: put on a fight that the fans deserve and fight a top-tier fighter like Travis Browne.”
Mitrione, who hasn’t fought since last October due to various injuries, admitted to thinking long and hard about the opportunity, but ultimately felt like he made the right decision.
“It’s inevitable that Travis and I will fight,” he said, “but he and the fans deserve the best me possible because that scrap will certainly have title implications when it happens.”
On Wednesday night, I was at home working on another Bleacher Report story for Thursday. I heard the news that Frank Mir had agreed to move to Strikeforce to face Daniel Cormier, and while talking to Mir’s manager Malki Kawa about the move, I sent one …
On Wednesday night, I was at home working on another Bleacher Report story for Thursday. I heard the news that Frank Mir had agreed to move to Strikeforce to face Daniel Cormier, and while talking to Mir’s manager Malki Kawa about the move, I sent one of Cormier’s best friends a text message with the news.
The friend is a fellow named Daniel Rubenstein, and I’ve mentioned him in this space before. He was, like Cormier, a collegiate wrestler and is as knowledgeable as they come on the subject of international wrestling. He’d just gotten off the phone with Cormier 10 minutes before receiving my text, and Cormier knew nothing of his next fight.
Cormier had been under the impression he would be facing Tim Sylvia on September 29 for several weeks. He’d heard rumors circulating the past few days that Zuffa was looking to bring in a different opponent on a different date, but he wasn’t going to change his training camp up until he knew for sure, so he was at American Kickboxing Academy training for the fight when Rubenstein relayed him the news.
When Cormier called me an hour later, you could hear the good news in his voice.
“I was excited, man. I couldn’t have imagined getting such a huge-name guy and fighting a guy that just fought for the UFC championship only a few months ago,” Cormier told Bleacher Report in an exclusive interview. “I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was dropping my cell phone.”
One can hardly blame Cormier for being excited. Finding out that you’re going from Sylvia to Mir is almost like winning the lottery, or whatever the lottery amounts to for a guy stuck in Strikeforce for one more fight.
“Not to disrespect Tim Sylvia, but he hasn’t really been fighting at the top of the sport for the last few years. He’s been fighting wherever he can. I think the last top-level guy he fought was Fedor, and he got beat really quick,” Cormier said. “So it’s exciting to fight a guy that’s been fighting at the top of the sport for his whole career, a guy who just fought for the title and was coming off three or four straight wins in the UFC before that. It’s a great fight.”
The fight, on paper at least, is a dubious one for Mir. He’s never had great success with high-level wrestlers, and to say that Cormier is a high-level wrestler would be the understatement of the year. He’s a former Olympian, after all, and is likely—and this is without hyperbole—the very best wrestler in the entire sport.
“That’s going to be my biggest strength over everybody that I fight. I think that’s a no-brainer, and it’s my biggest advantage in almost every fight I have,” Cormier said. “Also, there are a couple more advantages. I think speed. I think conditioning. Some of those areas that I haven’t really shown a weakness in, and he’s shown a weakness in at times.”
Cormier is a very happy man. He gets to cap off his Strikeforce career against a big-name opponent and then insert himself directly into the mix in the UFC.
“I think it is. Frank is a guy who has been a champion twice. His name rings a bell. It’s synonymous with the UFC. So UFC fans will actually come over to watch Frank fight, and he’ll get a lot of eyes on me,” Cormier said. “And regardless of the outcome, more people will see me and know me as I move into the UFC than before I fought Frank, or if I’d faced someone else in my last Strikeforce fight.”
Press Release – Toronto, Canada – Thrill-seeking UFC® 152 main event and co-main event fighters Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson, and Michael Bisping and Brian Stann, found themselves on top of the Western Hemisphere on Wednesday, squaring off for their UFC® 152 bouts from the ledge of the iconic CN Tower in Toronto. In town […]
Press Release – Toronto, Canada – Thrill-seeking UFC® 152 main event and co-main event fighters Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson, and Michael Bisping and Brian Stann, found themselves on top of the Western Hemisphere on Wednesday, squaring off for their UFC® 152 bouts from the ledge of the iconic CN Tower in Toronto.
In town to announce that tickets for the inaugural and historic flyweight championshipfight on September 22 at Air Canada Centre will go on sale to the general public on Friday, July 27, the fighters went on the EdgeWalk, a terrifying “walk” on the 1,168 ft ledge of the 1,875 ft-tall CN Tower. Towering over the Toronto harbour and cityscape, the world’s top 125-pound fighters, Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson squared off as they took in the view from the world’s fifth-tallest and the Western Hemisphere’s tallest free-standing structure. Following closely behind them on the world’s highest full-circle, hands-free walk, UFC® middleweight title contenders Michael Bisping and Brian Stann squared off for their highly anticipated co-main event. The fighters were tethered to an overhead rail system and walked around the edge of the CN Tower’s main pod above the 360 Restaurant on a 1.5-metre (4.9 ft) metal floor.
UFC® 152: BENAVIDEZ vs. JOHNSON on September 22 marks the second of three UFC® events taking place in Canada in 2012, following UFC®149: FABER vs. BARAO in Calgary this past Saturday and ahead of UFC® 154 in Montreal on November 17. The UFC® 152 card will also feature the return of UFC® legend BJ Penn, as he takes on rising Canadian welterweight star Rory MacDonald. In addition, Calgary’s TJ Grant looks to extend his winning streak to three when he meets Evan Dunham in a lightweight contest. Additional fights will be announced at www.ufc.com in the weeks to come.
Tickets for UFC® 152: BENAVIDEZ vs. JOHNSON go on sale Friday, July 27 at 12 p.m. ET and are priced at $550, $375, $250, $150, $125 and $85. Tickets will be available at the Air Canada Centre Box Office, by calling Ticketmaster at 1-855-985-5000 or online at www.ticketmaster.ca. Ticket prices do not include applicable service charges.
UFC® Fight Club™ members had the opportunity to purchase tickets to this event Wednesday, July 25 at 10 a.m. ET via the website www.ufcfightclub.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Thursday, July 26, starting at 10 a.m. ET. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC® newsletter through UFC.com.
UFC® 152: BENAVIDEZ vs. JOHNSON, presented by Assassin’s Creed III, Igniting the Revolution on October 30th, will be available live on Pay-Per-View at 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST on UFC.TV, iN DEMAND, DirecTV, DISH Network, Avail-TVN, and in Canada on Shaw Communications, Bell TV, Sasktel and Viewer’s Choice Canada for a suggested retail price of $44.99 US/$49.99 CAN for Standard Definition and $54.99 US/$59.99 CAN for High Definition.
For more information or current fight news, visit www.ufc.com. All bouts live and subject to change.
About the Ultimate Fighting Championship®
Universally recognized for its action-packed, can’t-miss events that have sold out some of the biggest arenas and stadiums across the globe, the UFC® is the world’s premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization. Owned and operated by Zuffa,LLC, headquartered in Las Vegas and with offices in London, Toronto and Beijing, UFC produces more than 30 live events annually and is the largest Pay-Per-View event provider in the world. In 2011, the UFC burst into the mainstream with a landmark seven-year broadcast agreement with FOX Sports Media Group. The agreement includes four live events broadcast on the FOX networkannually, with additional fight cards and thousands of hours of programming broadcast on FOX properties FX and FUEL TV. This also includes the longest-running sports reality show on television, The Ultimate Fighter®, which now airs on FX.
In addition to its reach on FOX, UFC programming is broadcast in over 149 countries and territories, to nearly one billion homes worldwide, in 20 different languages. UFC content is also distributed commercially in the United States to bars and restaurants through Joe Hand Promotions, in English throughout Canada via Premium Sports Broadcasting Inc. and in French throughout Quebec via Interbox. The UFC also connects with tens of millions of fans through its website, UFC.com, as well as social media sites Facebook and Twitter. UFC President Dana White is considered one of the most accessible and followed executives in sports, with over two million followers on Twitter. Ancillary UFC businesses include best-selling DVDs, an internationally distributed magazine, UFC.TV offering live event broadcasts and video on demand around the world, the best-selling UFC Undisputed® video game franchise distributed by THQ, and a new franchise in development with EA, UFC GYM®, UFC Fight Club affinity program, UFC Fan Expo® festivals, branded apparel and trading cards.
At this point, it’s probably best to assume the injury ‘bug’ is here to stay. It may not always be bad. It may never be as bad again as it was for UFC 149. But it’s bad and it shows no signs of letting up. My major takeaway? No mo…
At this point, it’s probably best to assume the injury ‘bug’ is here to stay. It may not always be bad. It may never be as bad again as it was for UFC 149. But it’s bad and it shows no signs of letting up. My major takeaway? No more thin cards. No more headliners and maybe one other decent fight. Several fights need to move the needle on each card if for no other reason that it’s an insurance policy.
As you may have heard on read on this very site, Ben Rothwell is out of his fight with Travis Browne at UFC on FOX 4. And because UFC can’t find a suitable opponent for Browne on short notice, Mike Swick vs. DaMarques Johnson has been bumped to the main card. It’s a big opportunity for Swick (and Johnson) and the fight may turn out to be a barn burner. But that’s not the point. The point is that these injuries are happening too often per fight card. Unless they miraculously slow down, the only real way to fight back against the tide is to put as much talent together in one place.
But that’s neither here nor there. What is is today’s dose of multimedia goodness. We’ve got all the news from yesterday, video of Georges St. Pierre back to training, Ben Henderson offering criticism of the MMA media and much more. Enjoy.
FIVE MUST-READ STORIES
Ben Rothwell out of UFC on FOX 4 Fight. It appears we are firmly in the era of injuries wrecking everything that’s good about the UFC and MMA. This card is no exception.
UFC confirms Vitor Belfort vs. Alan Belcher at UFC 153. Just as I mention injuries ruining everything, my hope is that they don’t ruin this, which on paper looks like it could be one of the best middlefights in recent memory. Fingers: firmly crossed.
Rory MacDonald vows to hurt ‘out of shape’ Penn. People keep asking about this new ‘cocky’ MacDonald, but I don’t buy it. Sure, he’s trying to sell a fight. Who can blame him? But more than anything, maybe the kid is just coming out of his shell.
Gilbert Melendez to Defend Title Against Pat Healy. If you were curious as to whether Melendez was going to continue to spend perhaps the most critical portion of his prime fighting good but less than optimal competition for someone at his level, the answer is for (at least) the forseeable future.
MEDIA STEW
Lyoto Machida has a nice array of techniques to end fights. He’d like to show them to you. You can watch them here.
Did you know Super Fight League now has a reality show? Now you do and here’s a preview.
The effervescent ‘Gracie Breakdown’ this time takes a look at the one-armed kimura Phil Davis used to submit Tim Boetsch, a.k.a. the ‘Mr. Wonderful’.
GSP is back to hitting pads again and doesn’t look half bad. It doesn’t mean a whole lot, but watch the video anyway.
BENDO: MMA MEDIA OMBUDSMAN
BREAKING NEWS: @ufc fighter thinks he can beat this guy, or that guy & the champ too…#DUH
Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes courtesy UFC veteran and current Bellator welterweight Ben Saunders, who is an active and enthusiastic member of the Bloody Elbow community thanking fans after his win over Brian Warren (video included in the previous link):
I want to Thank all of my teammates that helped me prepare for this fight. I want to thank my whole family, all my friends, and everyone one of you fans that constantly support me & root for me. Every time I enter that cage I am not just fighting for myself and my Legacy. But for all of you guys as well. I feed off of all of your guys positive energy… powering up like DBZ to unload this energy upon my opponents.
Big Props to Brian Warren for stepping into the cage with me and putting it all on the line. We both had Big Dreams that night and unfortunatley one of us had to have are dreams shattered. That is just part of the harsh game of MMA. Someone always has to lose…. He is a Great guy and a true veteran of this sport. Brian you will be back at it again in no time… pimpin. Keep ya head up!
Certain sections of the MMA fraternity are of the impression that Jon Jones’ reach, height and size are the reasons he’s attained the status of UFC 205-pound champion, however, that’s a view I fail to share.Sure, his 6’4″ frame and 84.5-inch reach has …
Certain sections of the MMA fraternity are of the impression that Jon Jones‘ reach, height and size are the reasons he’s attained the status of UFC 205-pound champion, however, that’s a view I fail to share.
Sure, his 6’4″ frame and 84.5-inch reach has in some respects enabled him to achieve a certain level of success thus far in his career, but by no means has it been the alpha and omega of all his accomplishments.
Take Stefan Struve for instance. The Dutch combatant is 6’11” with a reach equivalent to the one “Bones” Jones has at his disposal.
And regardless of what division he fights in (heavyweight), on five occasions said attributes were ineffective, albeit he was facing off against much shorter adversaries with sometimes less arm reach than himself.
Several of those combatants include Junior dos Santos (6’4″ with a 77-inch reach), Roy Nelson (6’0″ with a 73-inch reach) and Travis Browne (6’7″ with a 78-inch reach).
In comparison, here’s a quick look at Jones’ conquests—Mauricio Rua (6’0″ with a 73-inch reach), Quinton Jackson (6’1″ with a 73-inch reach), Lyoto Machida (6’1″with a 74-inch reach) and Rashad Evans (5’11” with a 75-inch reach).
Before you say “Skyscraper” lacks the same skill set akin to Jones or that his cumbersomeness has hindered his progress, remember, even with inherent talent, proficiency in any discipline first has to be acquired and honed to the best of that individual’s ability; something the phenom has done and continues to do en route to MMA greatness.
Furthermore, another debate that arises is the fact Jones is too big for his weight class and therefore has an advantage over his oftentimes smaller opponents. His naysayer’s solution to this problem is for Jones to ply his trade amongst the heavy-hitters, a class above him.
With regard to size, did Cain Velasquez’s 240 pounds prevent him from overwhelming such behemoths as Brock Lesnar and Antonio Silva, who both weighed in the region of 265 pounds?
Or what about Dan Henderson, who weighed in at just 207 pounds, when he stopped the much heavier (223 pounds) Fedor Emelianenko?
No doubt when Jones derails Henderson’s title ambitions at UFC 151, the whole height, reach and size discussion will rear its ugly head again.
Truth be told, we’ll never know for sure how Jones would’ve fared if he’d possessed the same corporeal traits as his fellow 205-pounders.
Nevertheless, a fighter’s overall makeup isn’t and can’t be solely determined by their physical attributes—psychosomatics also plays its part.
On Wednesday night, I was at home working on another Bleacher Report story for Thursday. I heard the news that 
The last time Joe Lauzon was scheduled to fight Terry Etim, he wound up submitting Gabe Ruediger in less than a round at UFC 118.
